By Akani Nkuna
South African Communist Party (SACP) Chairperson Blade Nzimande has warned the movement’s leadership against drifting from its alliance with the African National Congress and Cosatu to pursuing an independent election bid.
This is according to a scathing document reportedly circulated among party leaders.
The document alleges factional behaviour has seeped into the organisation, disrupting internal cohesion and democracy, and urges a recommitment to the alliance’s strategic objectives.
The widely shared document details the failures and lack of coherence within the party, which Nzimande attributes to the SACP’s “wrong interpretation” of contesting elections alone.
“Internally, the party now faces several structural and ideological challenges that impede full implementation. Chief among these is the erosion of internal cohesion. Democratic centralism, the principle of debate before decision, unity after decision, have been unevenly applied,” said Nzimande in the document.
“In some structures, factional behaviours and personality-driven politics have supplanted collective leadership. This has weakened accountability mechanisms and fostered disunity, contradicting the Leninist conception of discipline vanguard.”
The letter comes just days before the SACP’s 6th Special National Congress, to be held in Johannesburg from 14 to 16 November, at which the highest-ranking party officials will convene to discuss local and global affairs.
Additionally, the party is expected to iron out the issue of contesting the next Local Government Election (LGE) as a separate entity.
Earlier this year, SACP Secretary General (SG) Solly Mapaila broke the decade-long tripartite alliance when he declared that the SACP would contest the LGE 2026 independently.
The SACP contested by-elections independently this year in Limpopo, in Seshego Ward 13 and Bogalatladi, where it received a total of 70 votes out of thousands cast.
Mapaila described the results as an “early test, not the final verdict,” but said the party was unwavering in its bid to contest LGE 2026.
The poor performance compounded the fears of many whilst vindicating claims by critics that the SACP might not find favour outside of the alliance.
Said Nzimande in his document: “Some elements within the party have confused tactical independence with opportunistic adventurism. These elements have mistaken rhetorical radicalism for revolutionary praxis.”
Nzimande also warned of a lack of political training and scarce resources, saying the party had struggled to translate its strategic resolutions and risked “devolving into bureaucratic proclamation”.
He said there was a need to reinvest massively in ideological training to strengthen the SACP’s analytical edge.
“Revitalising political education is thus essential to prevent voluntarism and ensure that tactics serve strategy, not the other way around,” Nzimande said.
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